Methods and apparatus for measuring blood oxygenation of tissue

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method of measuring oxygenation of tissue in a non-invasive manner are provided. The apparatus comprises a light source configured to emit a light pattern to be projected onto the tissue, in which the light pattern comprises superimposed patterns having different patterns. A detector captures an image of a reflected light pattern which is reflected from the tissue as a result of the projected light pattern. A processor coupled to the detector can be configured to perform a transform on the image of the reflected light pattern and determine oxygenation of each of a plurality of layers of the tissue in response to the transform of the image. Polarimetry can be used in determining a change in polarization angle of light beam. Tissue oxygenation can be determined at a plurality of layers from one snapshot, for example oxygenation of retinal layers.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 16/004,307, filed Jun. 8, 2018, which is a continuation of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/US2016/065990, filed on Dec. 9, 2016,which claims priority from U.S. provisional Application No. 62/265,959,filed on Dec. 10, 2015, and to which application we claim priority under35 USC § 120. Each of the above-referenced applications is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tissue oxygenation is an important physiological parameter in at leastsome instances. Abnormal oxygenation of tissues and blood is implicatedin a number of diseases preceding tissue damage, including infectiousprocesses, diabetic retinopathy, choroidal disorders, stroke and cancer.For instance, the retinal vasculature's oxygen saturation (SO₂) is avaluable indicator of disease, in particular for patients with diabeticretinopathy (DR) who may experience changes in retinal oxygen saturationduring their lifetime. A broad range of studies have shown that theearliest detectable sign of DR is an increase of ˜4% in the SO₂ in theretinal veins. Once DR is detected, there are treatment optionsavailable to slow or stop DR progression and prevent retinal structuraldamage. The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS), amulticenter clinical trial funded by the NEI, aims to determine whetherthe progress of DR could be slowed or stopped using either argon laserphotocoagulation or aspirin treatment. Although a number of experimentalsystems aimed at measuring retinal SO₂ have been developed, a reliable,robust model for in vivo monitoring is still lacking.

Prior methods and apparatus of measuring oxygenation of the tissue canbe less than ideal. The prior methods and apparatus can be more complexand less accurate than would be ideal, and may not be well suited fortissue oxygenation mapping. For example, tissue can move and degrademeasurements and the prior methods and apparatus can be less thanideally suited to measure tissue quickly. Measurements of retinal tissueof the eye can be subject to movement when the eye moves, and ocularmeasurements of the retina can be more difficult and less accurate thanwould be ideal.

In light of the above it would be desirable to have improvedmeasurements to measure oxygenation of tissue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The methods and apparatus disclosed herein provide improved measurementsof tissue oxygenation with decreased measurement times and improvedmeasurement accuracy. The methods and apparatus disclosed herein arecapable of measuring oxygenation of the tissue with a reduced number ofimage frames captured by a detector comprising a plurality of pixels,which substantially prevents a degrading in measurement caused by amovement of the tissue during the measurement and improves the accuracy.In some embodiments, single snapshot of the tissue can be used todetermine and map blood oxygenation. The methods and apparatus disclosedherein are particularly advantageous in measuring oxygenation of tissuesuch as retinal tissue of the eye.

A light pattern having superimposed patterns can be projected onto thetissue, and a reflected light pattern can be imaged by a detector (e.g.,a CCD). The light pattern imaged by the detector can be transformed witha transform function to generate a transform data, and the transformdata can be used to determine the oxygenation of the tissue. A map oftissue oxygenation can be determined in response to the transform datafrom a single measurement frame (e.g., a single snapshot of the tissue)from the detector and displayed to a user.

The methods and apparatus disclosed herein can determine oxygenation ofthe tissue at a plurality of layers. In some instances, the apparatuscan comprise an ellipsometer to determine oxygenation of the tissue ateach of a plurality of layers of the tissue. The projected light patterncan comprise modulated polarized light. The reflectance and polarizationchange through different retinal layers can be measured. The informationon absorption can be obtained from the change of reflectance fordifferent spatial frequencies. The optical information on differentlayers can be obtained from the shift of polarization angle. In contraryto a conventional ellipsometry where one would need to scan a range ofincidence angles to reconstruct the polarization angle changes, with themethods and apparatus disclosed herein, each spatial frequencycorresponds to a unique incidence angle, thus, in one snapshot, all theinformation needed to map the multilayer retinal structure can becaptured.

In the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, modulated light can beused, which provides at least two independent radiations in onesnapshot. This empowers ellipsometer to capture reflectance at differentangles in one snapshot, and allows to determine the optical propertiesof different layers up to the choroid.

In the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, oxygenation of the tissuecan be calculated in one snapshot by using an image splitter, which alsoeliminating the need for eye dilation by using near-infrared (NIR)radiation or laser. In some instances, in case light beam of visiblewavelengths is used, eye dilation may be required.

An aspect of the disclosure may provide a method of measuringoxygenation of tissue. The method can comprise projecting a lightpattern onto the tissue, said light pattern comprising a superimposedpatterns having two or more different patterns; imaging a reflectedlight pattern which is reflected from the tissue as a result of theprojected light pattern; performing a transform on the reflected lightpattern; and determining oxygenation of each of a plurality of layers ofthe tissue in response to the transform of the reflected light pattern.

Aspects of the disclosure may also provide an apparatus to measureoxygenation of tissue. The apparatus can comprise: a light sourceconfigured to emit a light pattern to be projected onto the tissue, saidlight pattern comprising a superimposed patterns having two or moredifferent patterns; a detector for capturing an image of a reflectedlight pattern which is reflected from the tissue as a result of theprojected light pattern; and one or more processors coupled to thedetector, the one or more processors being configured to perform atransform on the image of the reflected light pattern and determineoxygenation of each of a plurality of layers of the tissue in responseto the transform of the image.

In an aspect, a method of measuring oxygenation of tissue comprisesprojecting a pattern onto the tissue with two or more wavelengths oflight. The pattern is projected onto the tissue. A transform of thepattern is generated, and oxygenation of the tissue is determined inresponse to the transform of the projected pattern. While the projectedpattern can be projected in many ways, in many instances the projectedpattern comprises a one-dimensional pattern such as a one-dimensionalsine wave. The projected pattern may comprise two superimposed sinewaves in order to determine oxygenation of each of a plurality of layersof the tissue, such as a plurality of layers of retinal tissue.Alternatively, the projected pattern may comprise a two-dimensionalpattern such as a two-dimensional sine wave.

The apparatus may comprise an ellipsometer to determine oxygenation ofthe retina at each of a plurality of layers of the retina. The projectedpattern may comprise a plurality of superimposed patterns havingdifferent spatial frequencies, for example a first pattern having firstspatial frequencies and a second pattern having second spatialfrequencies. The first pattern may comprise a first wavelength of lightand the second pattern may comprise a second wavelength of light. Eachof the plurality of layers of the tissue can be mapped in response tothe single frame. A splitter can be used to separate the firstwavelength of light from the second wavelength of light imaged onto thedetector comprising pixels in order to provide the measurement from asingle frame from the detector.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual publication, patent, or patent application wasspecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for measuring oxygenation of retinalvasculature, in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a method of measuring blood oxygenation in a retina,in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 3A illustrates a sinusoidal pattern, which can be applied to lightemitted from LEDs to impart a spatial frequency in a light beam, inaccordance with embodiments; and

FIG. 3B illustrates a Fourier transform of a sinusoidal pattern, inwhich AC and DC components correspond to different Fourier peaks, inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system for measuring oxygenation of retinalvasculature, in accordance with embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The methods and apparatus disclosed herein are well suited formeasurements of many tissues, and can be configured in many ways. Themethods and apparatus disclosed herein can be combined with priormethods and apparatus to provide improved measurement of tissueoxygenation, such ellipsometry as known to one of ordinary skill in theart.

Polarimetry is the measurement of the polarization of transverse waves,such as radio or light waves. Polarimetry is performed onelectromagnetic waves that have traveled through or have been reflected,refracted, or diffracted by an object in order to characterize theobject. Polarimetry of thin materials and surfaces is also known asellipsometry. The measured signal is the change in polarization as theincident radiation (such as light waves) interacts with the materialstructure of interest (reflected, absorbed, scattered, or transmitted).The polarization change is quantified by the amplitude ratio and thephase difference. Because the signal depends on the thickness as well asthe material properties, ellipsometry can be a useful tool for contactfree determination of thickness and optical parameters of the materialof interest. Upon the analysis of the change of polarization of light,ellipsometry can yield information about the material of interest.Ellipsometry can probe the complex refractive index or dielectricfunction tensor, which gives access to fundamental physical parameters.In this disclosure, ellipsometer can be used in calculating tissueoxygenation. In some embodiments, the ellipsometer can comprise a firstportion and a second portion. The first portion of the ellipsometer canapply polarization to a light beam. The first portion of theellipsometer can apply different polarizations to different componentsof a light beam, each component corresponding to a different spatialfrequency. The second portion of the ellipsometer can enable a detectionof a differential signal based on the different polarizations.Alternatively, a rotating polarizer can be used to polarize the lightbeam to be directed to the tissue. Information on different layers ofthe tissue can be distinguished by the changes in polarization angle ofthe reflected light beam over the incident light beam of the tissue

Biological tissues are composed of a variety of chromophores, which aremolecules that absorb light of characteristic wavelengths. If the amountof light that a tissue absorbs can be measured, then concentrations ofthe chromophores in the tissue can be calculated. This can be useful inclinical applications because some of chromophores in body tissue aremarkers of important clinical parameters, such as oxygenation. Theattenuation of light in tissue is a function of both its absorption andscattering properties. Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) can beused to separate the effects of scattering and absorption, andconsequently, to quantify a set of chromophores. SFDI works by shiningdifferent patterns light on the tissue, capturing images of the remittedlight, and processing the captured images. In this disclosure, SFDI isused in calculating tissue oxygenation. However, in conventional SFDIapproach, a sinusoidal light pattern at different phases (0, 2π/3, 4π/3)is projected and three sample images are acquired. A reference withknown optical properties is used to extract the AC/DC components of thereflectance. From these components, a steady-state diffusion equationcan calculate the absorption and reduced scattering. Requiring threesnapshots is problematic if the tissue has motion artifacts, such aswith retinal imaging.

The present disclosure provides an improved optical method and apparatusfor non-invasive measurement of tissue oxygenation. The method andapparatus disclosed herein are capable of measuring tissue oxygenationwith a single snapshot of the tissue, thus can be advantageous inmeasuring oxygenation of a moving tissue such as retinal tissue of theeye. The method and apparatus disclosed herein enables measurement ofoxygenation at each of a plurality of tissue by combining DimensionalSpatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) algorithm with ellipsometry tobenefit from the best of each in a unified technique.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for measuring oxygenation of tissue. Insome embodiments, the tissue can be retinal vasculature of an eye. Amain light source 110 can be provided to illuminate a patient's tissue.The main light source can be an optical source emitting visible lightand/or infrared light. In some instances, the main light source can be alaser source, such as a laser diode. In some embodiments, the main lightsource can be an infrared laser diode such as a near-infrared (NIR)diode. Alternatively, the main light source can be a LED.

In some embodiments, a secondary illumination source 114 can be providedin addition to the main light source. The light beam from the secondaryillumination source can be mixed with the light beam from the main lightsource. In some instances, a reflecting surface 112 can be provided tomix the light beam from the main light source and the light beam fromthe secondary illumination source. For instance, the reflecting surfacecan be a beam splitter, such as a polarizing beam splitter, to allow thelight beam mixture. The secondary illumination source can provideadditional lighting as can be needed to more completely illuminate thetissue. The resulting beam 115 from the reflecting surface can comprisea plurality of light wavelengths. The light wavelengths can bepreferentially chosen to be distributed about an isosbestic point ofoxygenated blood. In some embodiments, the light beam can comprise twowavelengths of light. For example, the resulting beam can comprisewavelengths of 780 nm and 710 nm. Alternatively, the light beam cancomprise more than two wavelengths of light. The resulting beam can bepolarized, and can comprise a plurality of polarization components.

In some embodiments, the main light source can comprise an array oflight emitting diodes, arranged to generate a sinusoidal pattern oflight. In some instances, the main light source can generate light beamcomprising a plurality of sinusoidal spatial modulations. In someembodiments, the main light source can comprise a first array of LEDswith a first spatial modulation frequency and a first polarization, andthe secondary illumination source can comprise a second array of LEDswith a second spatial modulation frequency and a second polarization.The light beam from the main light source and the light beam from thesecondary illumination source can be combined by the reflecting surface(for example, a polarizing beam splitter) while maintaining theirseparate polarizations for use in ellipsometry.

A diffuser 128 can be positioned in the path of the resulting beam fromthe reflecting surface, to eliminate high-order components. The diffusercan also generate a smooth sinusoidal pattern of light. The smoothsinusoidal pattern can be generated for each wavelength of light in theresulting beam. In such cases, a first polarization optics 118 and asecond polarization optics 120, which will be described hereinafter, canbe omitted.

The light beam can then then directed through shaping optics 116, whichare configured to shape an incident, which is in a substantiallyGaussian beam profile, into a toroidal beam profile. Thereafter, thelight beam can be directed into first polarization optics 118.

The first polarization optics 118 can comprise a first portion of anellipsometer, such that a first polarization can be applied to the lightbeam. A second polarization optics 120 can be provided in a later stageof the beam path, such that changes in polarization can be measuredusing known methods of ellipsometry. The first polarization optics 118can apply different polarizations to different components of a lightbeam, each component corresponding to a different spatial frequency. Forexample, if a spatial modulation of beam intensity comprises a first andsecond spatial frequency component, each with different spatialfrequencies, then the first polarization optics can be configured toapply a different polarization shift to each component, thereby allowinga differential signal to be detected based on the different polarizationshifts measured as the beam passes through the second polarizationoptics 120 with polarization-based attenuation.

In some embodiments, the polarized light beam, which is polarized by thefirst polarization optics 118, can then be sent through focusing optics122, as needed, to shape the light beam to have an appropriately-sizedtoroidal beam profile. The light beam can be reflected off a beamsplitter 124, which comprises a reflective surface with a hole throughwhich light can pass. The toroidal beam profile can be aligned such thatits center coincides with the hole, such that most of the incident lightof the beam is reflected toward a target tissue 130. The target tissuecan be retina, which is a non-diffuse multi-layered tissue.

The light reflected toward the target tissue can be focused by afocusing lens 126 to fall on the target tissue. In some instance, thetarget tissue can be retina, the incident light can be focused by thefocusing lens to fall on the retina, strike the patient's retina andscatter off. A significant portion of the scattered light can bereflected back toward the beam splitter 124, and can be directed throughthe hole in the beam splitter 124. Depending on the propagation depthinto the tissue, the polarization angle of the reflected light beam canbe rotated. As a result, the reflected light can have a slightly rotatedpolarization with respect to the polarization of the light beam incidenton the tissue. This change in the polarization can be captured by thesecond polarization optics 120 and can be manifested as a reduction inthe intensity of the captured light. Information on different layers ofthe tissue can be distinguished by the changes in polarization angle ofthe reflected light beam. In other words, the information of depth oftissue can be encoded in the angle of polarization of light.

Shaping optics 132 can then be provided in the light path to resize thelight beam, and the light beam can be directed through a filter 134 toisolate the correct wavelengths of light. The filter can be an imagesplitter. For example, the filter can direct light of differentwavelengths to different portions of a detector 136. The detector can bea CCD camera comprising an array of pixels. Each portion of the detectorcan measure an image of the corresponding wavelength. The light beam canstrike the detector, allowing the light beam to be imaged. In someembodiments, the ellipsometer, which is comprises the first polarizationoptics and the second first polarization optics, can provide sensitivityto shifts in polarization of the light beam as it reflects off thetarget tissue. These detected shifts in polarization, such as rotationsin polarization, can be used to calculate depths of light penetration,from which the method and apparatus as disclosed in this disclosure candetect depth dependent properties of blood oxygenation in the tissue.

The detector can be coupled to a processor which can be used todetermine blood oxygenation based on measured signals from detector. Theprocessor can further be coupled to a display to show measured results,such as a blood oxygenation map, to the user.

In some instances, if oxygenation as a function of depth is not to bedetermined, the ellipsometer can be omitted by removing the firstpolarization optics 118 and the second polarization optics 120.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of measuring blood oxygenation in atissue. In process or step 210, a tissue such as retina of the patientcan be illuminated with illuminating light. The illuminating light cancome from a main light source. The main light source can be an opticalsource emitting visible light and/or infrared light. In some instances,the main light source can be a laser source, such as an infrared laserdiode. In some embodiments, the main light source can comprise an arrayof light emitting diodes, arranged to generate a sinusoidal pattern oflight. The illuminating light can comprise a plurality of wavelengths,and be polarized to provide for ellipsometric imaging. In someembodiments, the illuminating light can comprise two wavelengths oflight. Alternatively, the illuminating light can comprise more than twowavelengths of light. The illuminating light can comprise a sinusoidalintensity distribution; for example, a 1D sinusoid or a 2D sinusoid. Insome cases, the illuminating light can comprise a plurality of summedsinusoids, including sinusoids summed with different weighting factors.The illumination can comprise a single imaging pulse, with a singlesinusoidal intensity distribution. In some embodiments, the imagingpulse can comprise a plurality of frequencies and a plurality ofsinusoidal spatial modulations, with each spatial modulationcorresponding to a particular polarization.

The illuminating light can be allowed to reflect from the tissue forcollection in an apparatus configured to measure light intensity. Insome instances, the apparatus can be configured to determine lightintensity as a function of polarization. For example, the lightintensity can be determined as a function of polarization by using anellipsometer.

In process or step 220, the reflected light from the tissue can beimaged by a detector. The detector can be an array of pixels, forexample pixels of a CCD array. The signal of each pixel can correspondto an intensity as a function of polarization angle. This variation ofintensity with respect to polarization angle can correspond to avariation of polarization angle with respect to penetration depth oflight reflecting from the tissue. For instance, an increasingpenetration depth can correspond to an increasing shift in polarization.By using an ellipsometer to detect the polarization shifts, themeasurement in process or step 220 can be divided into a plurality ofintensities as a function of depth, with each intensity corresponding toa different layer of depth in the tissue. This correlation between depthand polarization can be determined by using known properties of tissueand blood. Based on these properties, a comparison of intensity as afunction of polarization can be used to determine oxygenation as afunction of depth. Each of a plurality of wavelengths can be measured oncorresponding pixels of the detector. For example, different wavelengthscan be separated by filter to illuminate corresponding portions of theCCD.

In process or step 230, a spatial Fourier transform can be performed.Based on this spatial Fourier transform, in process or step 240, aplurality of frequency components can be extracted, corresponding to ACand DC components. The AC and DC components can correspond to sinusoidalcomponents, and each AC component can correspond to a particularpolarization. In some instance, the AC component is the sinusoidalcomponent where frequency is 0, and a DC component may be the sinusoidalcomponent where frequency is an imposed spatial frequency f. Theintensities of each of the DC and AC components can be determined, and afrequency-specific intensity can be determined for each. For example, ageneral form of AC and DC components can correspond to the intensityequation I=A+B cos(kx), in which A is the DC component and B is the ACcomponent.

In process or step 250, AC and DC components can be determined for aplurality of pixels of the detector (for example, the CCD). SpecificFourier components corresponding to each of the AC and DC intensitiescan be isolated with only a modest decrease in spatial resolution. Forexample, AC and DC intensities can be determined with a resolution lossfactor of 10 to 1. Thus, for example, a 1000×1000 detector can producean image for each component with an effective resolution of about100×100.

In process or step 260, blood oxygenation levels can be determined for aplurality of pixels. The blood oxygenation level of each pixel can bedetermined by a comparison of the intensities of the AC and DCcomponents of reflected light for the plurality of wavelengths, fromwhich absorption can be determined, using a modified Beer-Lambertabsorption model. Known absorption properties of tissue, and especiallyof oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, can be used to calculateabsorption based on the relative intensities of the AC and DCcomponents. The blood oxygenation levels can further be determined as afunction of depth, where different polarizations of light correspondingto different depths. This determination can be represented, for example,as a map of blood oxygenation. Measurement sensitivity of 3.5% or bettercan be achieved. Thus, it can be possible to diagnose small changes inblood oxygenation, where increased oxygenation of about 3% to 5% can bea warning sign of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. Because thisdetermination can be made from a single image, noise sources such astissue movement between images can be avoided.

In process or step 270, a blood oxygenation map can be generated andstored to a computer-readable medium. The blood oxygenation map can befurther displayed to a user. If the blood oxygenation map indicates anincreased oxygenation above a threshold, a warning can be provided,indicating that the user can be in danger of diseases such as diabeticretinopathy. The threshold can be a predefined threshold, or can bebased on a comparison to prior measurements of blood oxygenation.

Although the above processes and steps show a method of measuring tissueoxygenation in accordance with some embodiments, a person of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize many variations based on the teachingsdescribed herein. The processes and steps can be completed in adifferent order. Processes and steps can be added or deleted. Some ofthe processes and steps can comprise sub-processes and sub-steps ofother processes and steps. Many of the processes and steps can berepeated as often as desired by the user.

In some embodiments, multiple spatial frequencies can be used and eachfrequency's polarization change can be calculated to average out anerror caused by scattering in detecting the polarization angle, althoughretinal layers are more absorptive. In some instances, green and redwavelengths can be used to increase a contrast if the light beamgenerated by the main light source (e.g., NIR) does not provide enoughcontrast. In some instances, if there is insufficient contrast, theoutput can be limited to the average SO₂ in each section of the ETDRSmap.

FIG. 3A illustrates a sinusoidal pattern, which can be applied to lightemitted from the main light source to impart a spatial frequency in alight beam, as disclosed herein. FIG. 3B illustrates a Fourier transformof a sinusoidal pattern, in which AC and DC components correspond todifferent Fourier peaks. The central peak corresponds to the DCcomponent, and the side peaks correspond to AC components. Eachcomponent can individually be extracted to generate a correspondingtwo-dimensional intensity distribution. For example, unwanted peaks canbe masked off and an inverse Fourier transform can be applied togenerate a two-dimensional image corresponding only to unmasked spatialfrequencies.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 for measuring oxygenation of retinalvasculature, in accordance with embodiments. In some embodiments, thetissue can be retinal vasculature of an eye. The main light source 100can be a laser source, such as a laser diode or an infrared laser diodesuch as a near-infrared (NIR) diode. In some embodiments, the main lightsource can be a LED. A secondary illumination source 114 can be providedin addition to the main light source. The light beam from the secondaryillumination source can be mixed with the light beam from the main lightsource at a reflecting surface 112. In some instances, the reflectingsurface can be a beam splitter, such as a polarizing beam splitter, toallow the light beam mixture. The resulting beam 115 from the reflectingsurface can comprise a plurality of light wavelengths. The lightwavelengths can be preferentially chosen to be distributed about anisosbestic point of oxygenated blood. In some embodiments, theilluminating light can comprise two wavelengths of light. For example,the resulting beam can comprise wavelengths of 780 nm and 710 nm.Alternatively, the illuminating light can comprise more than twowavelengths of light.

The resulting beam 115 can then pass through a diffuser 128 to eliminatehigh-order components. The light beam can then then directed throughshaping optics 116, which are configured to shape an incident light,which is in a substantially Gaussian beam profile, into a toroidal beamprofile. Thereafter, the light beam can be directed into a modulationstage 140.

At the modulation stage 140, the light beam can be patterned by passingthrough a structure attached to a motorized stage. The motorized stagecan be shifted to create different phases and frequencies. In someembodiments, the uniform light beam from the main light source can bepatterned into a sinusoidal pattern of different phases and frequenciesat the modulation stage 140. The light beam can then then directedthrough focusing optics 122, as needed, to shape the light beam to havean appropriately-sized toroidal beam profile.

The light beam can then be directed to a rotating polarizer 142 whichpolarizes the light beam to be impinged on the tissue. In someinstances, the rotating polarizer can be driven by a motor. Thepolarized light beam can then be reflected off a beam splitter 124,which comprises a reflective surface with a hole through which light canpass. The light beam can be reflected at the beam splitter toward thetarget tissue 130. The target tissue can be retina. The light reflectedtoward the target tissue can be focused by a focusing lens 126 to fallon the target tissue. In some instance, the target tissue can be retina,the incident light can be focused by the focusing lens to fall on theretina, strike the patient's retina and scatter off. A significantportion of the scattered light can be reflected back toward the beamsplitter 124, and can be directed through the hole in the beam splitter124.

Depending on the propagation depth into the tissue, the polarizationangle of reflected light beam can be rotated. As a result, the reflectedlight can have a slightly rotated polarization with respect to thepolarization of the light beam incident on the tissue. This change inthe polarization can be captured by the polarizer and can be manifestedas a reduction in the intensity of the captured light. Information ondifferent layers of the tissue can be distinguished by the changes inpolarization angle of the reflected light beam. In other words, theinformation of depth of tissue can be encoded in the angle ofpolarization of light.

Shaping optics 132 can then be provided in the light path to resize thelight beam, and the light beam can be directed through a filter 134 toisolate the correct wavelengths of light. The filter can be an imagesplitter. For example, the filter can direct light of differentwavelengths to different portions of a detector 136. The detector can bea CCD camera comprising an array of pixels. Each portion of the detectorcan measure an image of the corresponding wavelength.

In the method and apparatus as disclosed in present disclosure, theincident polarized light is spatially modulated and the reflectance andpolarization change through different retinal layers are measured. Theinformation from absorption is encoded in the change of reflectance fordifferent spatial frequencies. The optical information from differentlayers is encoded in the shift of polarization angle. In contrary toconventional ellipsometry where one would need to scan a range ofincidence angles to reconstruct the polarization angle changes, with themethod and apparatus as disclosed in present disclosure, each spatialfrequency corresponds to a unique incidence angle. Thus, in onesnapshot, all the information needed to map the multilayer retinalstructure can be captured. In some instances, the one snapshot can beselected from a plurality of snapshots of the tissue. For example, a1-second video can be captured on the tissue which contains 60 frames,and one snapshot having the optimal imaging quality can be selected. Theselection of snapshot can be performed manually or automatically byalgorithms. In some embodiments, more than one snapshot can be needed ifmore than two wavelengths of light are used to calculate the oxygenationof tissue such as retina. For example, different spatially modulatedlight can illuminate in different snapshots.

The method and apparatus as disclosed in present disclosure are based onthe physics of retinal layers. No assumptions or a priori knowledgeabout the structure is needed. The index of reflectance, absorptioncoefficient, and scattering coefficient can be calculated from Equation1:

$n_{t} = {n_{i}{\sin\left( \theta_{i} \right)}\left\{ {1 + {{\tan\left( \theta_{i} \right)}^{2}\left( \frac{1 - {{\tan(\psi)}e^{i\;\Delta}}}{1 + {{\tan(\psi)}e^{i\;\Delta}}} \right)^{2}}} \right\}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$where: n is the index of refraction, θ is an angle of radiation, ψ isellipsometry angle, Δ is ellipsometry phase, i is incident medium and tis transmitted radiation. In each snapshot, at least two spatialfrequencies can be used to calculate the unknown parameters (e.g.,absorption and scattering coefficients).

With the method and apparatus as disclosed in present disclosure, theabsorption of Layer 2 with ≥95% accuracy can be accurately detected invivo in a patient and similar accuracy can be obtained in a model. Theoxygenation throughout the retinal layers can be measured non-invasivelywith ˜4% sensitivity (e.g., being sensitive to 4% changes in SO₂), whichis powerful enough to detect the onset of DR prior to structural damagein vivo in patients. Therefore, the method and apparatus as disclosed inpresent disclosure can be capable of detecting a change inoxy-hemoglobin ≤0.3 g/dL and achieving ≤2% error in hemoglobin comparedwith spectroscopy.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatsuch embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerousvariations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilledin the art without departing from the invention. It should be understoodthat various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention describedherein can be employed in practicing the invention. It is intended thatthe following claims define the scope of the invention and that methodsand structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents becovered thereby.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of measuring oxygenation of a tissue,the method comprising: projecting a light pattern onto the tissue;capturing a first image of a reflected light pattern which is reflectedfrom the tissue; performing a transform on the reflected light pattern;and determining an oxygenation of the tissue in response to thetransform of the reflected light pattern.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the performing the transform comprises performing a spatialFourier transform.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the performing thetransform further comprises determining the oxygenation in response tofrequency components of the spatial Fourier transform of the reflectedlight pattern.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining theoxygenation of the tissue comprises determining an oxygenation of eachof a plurality of layers of the tissue in response to the transform. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an oxygenation mapof the tissue in response to the transform of the reflected lightpattern.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tissue comprises retinaltissue of an eye.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the light patterncomprises a one-dimensional pattern comprising a one-dimensional sinewave.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the projecting the light patternonto the tissue comprises projecting two or more wavelengths onto thetissue.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining theoxygenation of the tissue comprises using less than three images of thereflected light pattern, wherein the less than three images comprises atleast the first image.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturingthe first image of the reflected light pattern comprises using adetector comprising a plurality of pixels, and wherein the methodfurther comprises determining an amount of light scattering and anamount of light reflection for each pixel of the plurality of pixels.11. An apparatus to measure oxygenation of a tissue, the apparatuscomprising: a light source configured to emit a light pattern to beprojected onto the tissue; a detector for capturing a first image of areflected light pattern which is reflected from the tissue; and one ormore processors operatively coupled to the detector and to anon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructionswhich, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to:perform a transform on the first image of the reflected light patternand determine an oxygenation of the tissue in response to at least thetransform of the first image of the reflected light pattern.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the transform is a spatial Fouriertransform.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions areconfigured to determine the oxygenation in response to frequencycomponents of the spatial Fourier transform of the reflected lightpattern.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions areconfigured to determine an oxygenation of each of a plurality of layersof the tissue in response to the transform.
 15. The apparatus of claim11, wherein the instructions are configured to generate an oxygenationmap of the tissue in response to the transform of the reflected lightpattern.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the detector comprises aplurality of pixels, and wherein the instructions are configured todetermine an amount of light scattering and an amount of lightreflection for each pixel of the plurality of pixels.
 17. The apparatusof claim 11, wherein the tissue comprises retinal tissue of an eye. 18.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the light pattern comprises aone-dimensional pattern comprising a one-dimensional sine wave.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the light pattern comprises two or morewavelengths.
 20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions areconfigured to determine the oxygenation of the tissue using less thanthree images of the reflected light pattern, wherein the less than threeimages comprises at least the first image.